nancy welch

But I have an Associates Degree in the Science of Nursing...and in the Nursing Process ADPIE we use the evidence in our evaluation...Can the President really make these rulings..I am starting to feel like I am in one of those old movies where the King comes out of his castle thru big doors with the trumpets sounding and makes his announcements on what will happen in HIS Kingdom..

If you are already working at a hospital then ask to come in one day and get some practice with an old nurse, well not old just one who has a lot of practice..I would say either in the ER or in the Out Patient Surgery department..Most of their days revolve around inserting Ivs..practice makes it a lot easier..Good Luck.

She could just be a bully and setting you up so she has a reason to start trouble with you...ignore ignore ignore, those are keywords..she may not be using at all, just like fishing she may be setting you up to run with the bait..to give her a reason to pick on you..if she truly is using, give her enough rope and she will hang herself eventually.I would stay away like from poison ivy..

Oh I am in such agreement with everyone on here. I see all sides of this...I live in West Virginia...I had to fight tooth and nail for my own Mothers comfort..My Mom is 93, she has dementia and was living in a personal care home..I wont discuss her incident but she fell and ended up with a commuted hip fracture..I have never ever seen my mom take a pain pill in my life. The hardest drug she has ever taken was tylenol arthritis..In June they put a rod and pins in during surgery..Now remember she has dementia..she was being discharged to a SNF for rehab..You got to picture this, we are in her hospital room. The discharging physician has been her PCP since 1990. we are in the room..My mom was holding the leg shaking and yelling "God please take me I can't stand this hurting, please", at that time she was only on oxy 5mg BID..He said he was only going to prescribe her to take tylenol and motrin on discharge because she can not possible be having the pain that I think she is. I was livid, it was not like she was going home where she could OD, where she could have a helper that could steal them..she was in crazy pain..I yelled at him, how could a dementia patient fake her pain? I also told him that he should be ashamed of himself and one day when he dies he can explain his thoughts to my dad, who was also his patient but died many years ago.. I also threatened him that I would go to the hospital ethics committee..My mom was DNR/ comfort care, and I was not at all worried about her taking these meds but to keep her in this much pain was a pure animalistic act..After we had her moved, we did switch PCPs on her, she has been weaned down, due to her being too groggy for PT, then back up for pain..she is back in a personal care home. Now she is on ultram, she is having PT again ,she will never walk again, I realize that but she needs to transfer from wheelchair and back.She is not as groggy but definitely nowhere the pain she was having. her meds will be tapered again after she finishes PT, The personal care home she is in at this time the owner was her Home Health nurse years ago and the Nurse Sup was my own boss back in the 90s when I was a baby nurse straight out of school. We live in a small semi rural area, everybody knows everybody. I have complete faith in both of them. I remember finding one Website online, I wish I could remember the name of it, it named physicians in our area and what narcotics they had been prescribing in 2015..Her initial physician was one of the main contributers to the fentanyl problem in our area, but he wanted to brush off my mothers pain due to her dementia..My own husband is a cancer survivor from NHL stage 4, he still has bone pain, he is now mets with prostate cancer, he had a radical prostatectomy and radiation and refuses to take the hormone shots due to the side effect of bone pain, the oncologist refuses him any pain meds due to this being called "not active cancer treatment". He said he refuses to pay a $500 copay for a medicine that will give him added pain, and I do not blame him..so if all this narcotic abuse and the physicians refusing to treat pain has hardened me, I have good reason..I am a retired RN and am glad I am out of this mess that I would be involved in had I still been working..Thank you for listening to my vent. I am so sorry for the situation that your friend is in. There has to be a middle for this pendulum for pain medications, it is too far swung and is one sided. Keep fighting for him, unless more family and friends and Nurses start sticking up for the non addicted pain patients this will never end..Remember only the squeaky wheel gets oiled. Your friend deserves pain relief and they can deal with the tapering later on after he heals from his surgery.

Back in the day when my daughters were teenagers I worked steady nights..I have always been a walking/talking while sleeping type of person..I remember waking up and finding out I gave my last couple daughters to my daughter for a dance..also I never had things like my curling iron, they took it to a friends home and forgot to bring it home..Or while I was sleeping giving them permission to stay at a friends house..this stuff was all verified by my husband. i had to stop all that stuff. so I started a rule...nobody is allowed to wake me up unless it is God himself, or if God is coming after someone I love aka an emergency. Flip years forward..Kids are grown and I am remarried..my husband piddles around the house..he is retired and I use a fan to block any noise..But he started doing the same thing that my kids did when I was younger, Waking me up for goofy reasons. once again I had to nip the problem before it got out of hand..I really sat down and had a talk with him..Because I walk/talk and even eat in my sleep, I had to be careful and get enough rest for work.I always had a great fear of nodding off during work and trying to work while sleep walking..What a nightmare that would be.I came up with an idea, on top of the nobody wakes me up but God theory that i used with my kids years back..i talked to my husband and got his input on the situation..First off I stayed awake for an hour or so after getting home, just in case someone from work had to call me with a question, day shift doesn't mind waking you up either (as I learned from history). During this initial time after work I would talk to my husband, really talk about anything (I think part of his problem was that he was lonely) I would ask him his plans for the day and just ask him to leave me a note if he goes somewhere so I wont worry when I do wake up and he is gone..he was kind of shocked when I told him "Honey, I am scared to death of not getting enough rest, I might make some type of fatal error while working. My job is not stacking cases of soda, it is not like if I drop a case by accident I just pick it back up and continue on, any mistake i may make at work could be fatal and cause a patient to die". He was really shocked, he said it was because he never really thought about me having those lives in my hands. He always thought I was the smartest woman he ever had a relationship with and never really knew my fears. i think what the problem is that your husband too may be thinking like mine did. He was also shocked when I told him that I honestly believe a couple times driving home from work that I may have been just totally exhausted from lack of sleep and I could not recall which traffic lights I stopped at because that were red. Until I had this talk with him I think he thought I was like wonder woman who never makes a mistake and was perfect..The talk solved our problem. He too is a wonderful husband. I think unless someone has worked in the medical field they have no understanding of the fear we have of making a fatal mistake at work. We are not perfect like they think we are, and since I do all this activity in my sleep at home, he really understands. I hope this gives you some ideas of what to do..If this fails then figure out in your mind if you want to risk your marriage or the night shift because it will get old and you might have to make a choice in the future. Good luck..If he is that good of a husband, they are hard to find, I would be holding on to him tight because I am sure there is a long line of women out there just waiting in the background for a "Good Man".

To be honest the schools really do not care if you pass or fail, now maybe some of the Nursing instructors will, but they have been Nurses too, they can sit back after the first few weeks of school and tell you who wants to really be a nurse because they care and who wants to be a nurse for the paycheck..After I got out and got working on the floor I could tell too, but it did not matter to me who went to school for what reason as long as my patients were taken care of properly. The schools are a business, I have seen schools try to get people to not go into nursing , and to just go for Medical Assisting or something else because they needed to fill a head count.They are a business so it is all about $$ to them, and IF you have to repeat a class to them so what it will be more money for them..PS I gave my Teddy Bears shots too..lol.. Nursing school is hard no ands if or buts about it..but do not allow anybody to kick you down. Maybe after a while you will find out you do not have it in you at this time for whatever reason to be a RN, Then go to school to be a LPN,if you want then grab up your RN later on, Your job and pay will be different, but you will still be a Nurse, we are all Nurses regardless of what letters we have after our names. Many times on the job I said boy I wish I was a LPN instead of having all this pressure..But see this should be your decision, not any office person at a school..I was a teenage mother still in High school back in 1974, being pregnant and in school was frowned upon back then and I remember my school advisor telling me I would never amount to anything, I proved her very wrong.She was the very person that I thought of at my RN pinning ceremony. Talk about holding a grudge.

Amen to that!!!

I have the same problem, go online or look in your drugstore for something called Working Hands it is a cream and will health them up in just a few days..I have also seen it sold at Busy Beaver Hardware store, It comes in a wide and short green plastic container..my fingers used to hurt so bad they would throb in pain..and all it takes is for me to use a hand sanitizer and they are sore just in one day..good luck let me know how it works for you..I tried all kind of stuff this is the only thing that worked for me.

In regards to what mcas stated.. Oh my goodness homecare is a wonderful job, I have done travel nursing from 2002 until 2012, but on my time off between contracts, I have done pediatric homecare, actually from 2000 until 2002 I did homecare prn along with my med surg part time job..If any nurse ever wants to have a rewarding feeling when you go home, and you hate the hospital rush, then homecare is right where ya need to be..unfortunately my back gave out I have severe spinal stenosis, so I had to take an early retirement but would jump back to my homecare kids in a heartbeat if I could..I tried working at a local hospital the last time I came off my travel contract in 2012,it didn't work out, I jumped right back to my pediatric homecare.. I needed to stay home around the area my elderly mother,she needed more care and I needed to stay close to her. I also didn't feel right about just because I was running off to maui each year to work that it would be fair to dump all of moms care on my sister who lives local and also has to work.You have that thin line of professionalism in homecare that ya must not cross..so that must always be kept.But my last patient, that family needed me, and I needed them, it was a pediatric vent patient, I could use my skills and yet have the actual time to give good nursing care.I didn't have to worry about someone else doing their job, because I was it, total care so I knew it was done..Our nurses here in WV aren't paid as well as other places, so it was only a 50 cent pay cut per hour..I was always the in between nurse in homecare,because I traveled so much.I always worked for several agencies locally, I had enough experience to just talk to the agency, go thru the background checks,gather up data on diagnosis and the equipment used if it was a different brand than I was used to, or if I needed a refresher on a certain procedure I would look it up on you tube, meet the family get report and start working after maybe an hour or 2 of training,just to be checked off by another nurse and figure out where all the supplies were..I would stick with that patient until they could find and train other nurses for that patient.Some of these families have been so wronged by previous nurses, they needed someone that could listen, not judge and build up their trust again..The nurses left the job or were no longer welcomed at the home, not because of skills, most of the time it was personality conflicts.Think about it, how would you like having some stranger in your home 24/7 they know everything about your business, your bills laying on the table, even if you and your spouse have words, clear down to what clothes are in your laundry basket...Last year on my fb was a friend request, it was from a young lady, her mother had given her my name, I was her homecare nurse way back in the year 2000, and now she is all grown up..It was really heart touching to know that her mom thought that much of me and that I had left such a good impression..What I am trying to say is I Love Homecare, and those families mostly love having older nurses, we are kind of like a Grandma figure to both the patient and the other little kids in the home..and who wouldn't like another grandma...Hahaha

You should always be able to go to your Nursing Sup without a problem..What could have happened was that IF that patient was a direct admit from home or a facility, and she was symptomatic they could have done the UA/CS at that facility and it may have gotten sent to a non hospital lab, then after she was admitted to the hospital the results from that facility came to the Drs attention at his office and that may have been the reasoning behind the Isolation discontinue. Who knows, If physicians would use more explanations when writing orders it sure would answer a lot of questions..who knows for sure..but if the charge nurse made rounds with him she may have known, the reasoning may have gotten dropped somewhere in report. It maybe somewhere in his physician notes. because I wrote so many variables that could have happened I hope that helped..If I saw the physician I would have simply asked if a UA was done elsewhere, Most of the time not all the time Drs will answer..It also could have been an infection control protocol, I worked as a travel nurse for a few years and saw a lot of protocols regarding isolation started because of one certain bacterial infection or another had occurred in the past so many months with that patient..They will Isolate first to protect staff and other patients, then after waiting for a ,b or c lab reports to come back then change the Isolation status . Check your infection control protocols, the answer might be in there..and most insurances will try to get out of paying for 2 of the same labs within a couple days, so it may be the result from another lab that ended the Isolation. That was a simple question..Good girl for asking instead of just assuming..That means you are using your Nursing brain..always question if the reason is not understood..Once we had a strange new physician , sorry his demeanor was just nothing I expected and he was new to the facility and I had an admission at 5am, he wrote for a patient to get 30 units of regular insulin every am..Now this patient came from another facility, so I saw the old Mars, and some nurses notes where he had bottomed out the previous day from a dose of 70/30..I called this Dr back and he said what he wrote was what he meant.and just do it.It was a few years ago when we had to write out the initial Mars..I waited until shift change and contacted the oncoming physician about it and he put the Brakes on about that order..Many errors were caught by good nurses and he did not last long, maybe a week or so and he was gone..Please do not get me wrong, he was kind and always joking with staff, but something was going on mentally and a lot of patients were saved from harm and possible death by good thinking nurses..Sometimes Drs and Nurses somehow something can go wrong mentally and they lose their knowledge, I have seen it happen but only a few times..I mean Boards are tuff so they had to be knowledgeable at some point and time in order to pass them, and I think that was what happened to this Physician, it was sad to see him let go, he was earnestly trying but it was like the lights are on but nobody was home.And patient safety can never be risked..I am betting it is the infection control protocol Sorry if I bored you with all this...Good luck

Someone once told me that if you want a specific thing at work, like shift or pay, the only way to get it is to quit and return later on down the road..isn't that sad..I feel you were wronged. Years and years ago I worked at a skilled facility and we found out the LPNs were getting paid more than us new RNs that were hired. Even tho we did all their cvp line ivs and blood draws, we had to monitor their patients if they got ill and had to send them to the ER, do their admissions plus have our own 30 patients on day or afternoon but 60 on night shift..trust me we did not take that one with a grain of salt. In other words I had 60 of my patients but still was held responsible for her 60 too..

On my test paper I would always circle the words first. most important, and always remember ABC, airway, breathing, and circulation because without those 3 meeting that main criteria your patient will die..like it does no good to do a dressing change on a dead person (a good example)..so always keep that in mind on tests..I had some test problems in my first semester then another student shared those tips with me and bang..my thought process changed and I made great grades after that..

You said the same words that I was going to say..I knew a man that did exactly that a few years back and he went into Nursing after being a Paramedic,he did a year of Med surge, then moved on to ICU, he is now on a prestigious member of a medical life flight group..I remember right after he graduated Nursing school, he asked my opinion on Nursing experience that would make him more marketable for the air team..Now when I hear about his journey, I could not be more proud, it was like he was my own kid..but from another Mama.. :)

I think it depends on what type of facility that you work as a CNA at..If you like LTC but just hate the CNA/Patient ratio, well then I think you will like Nursing, but IF you work at a hospital and like being a CNA there, you will really like Nursing..But if you hate being a CNA in a hospital you may not like Nursing...and Yes we still get our hands dirty..lol, so I guess it depends on what part of the CNA job description that you do not like..

I say Yes they do. I was a nurse aid for 10 years and a RN for 20 years before I had to take an instant retirement, not that I wanted to but I could barely walk anymore. I was diagnosed with severe spinal stenosis and 3 herniated and 1 ruptured disc, It was not a so called distinct movement related injury, in other words not a workers comp case. I can not think of any certain moment where I did something and said ouch my back. it kind of snuck up on me thru the years. My primary care Physician nick named it an old nurses back, as did the Neurosurgeon, and my chiropractor. I ended up having a discectomy but ended up with drop foot,not that anything went wrong with the surgery, we all know sometimes things just happen and I refuse further surgery at this time. .Giving up working as a nurse was traumatic for me, I felt like I was in one of those old time movies where a General walked up to a Military Private and rips the stripes off their uniform for doing something wrong, but I did nothing wrong, all I did was many many years of hands on nursing care. I have only had 2 people look down on me and they were both Medical Assistants.My Physicians, PT and Chiro have all been good to me, and the Nurses and NP they really show me extra empathy, I do not want people to feel sorry for me, but it is really nice to have people not think that I just am lazy or don't want to work,a stereotype for people with back pain . Every time I go for my check ups I have a list of the interventions that I have done at home, from my Low back trac, to exercises I learned from PT, to some of my own manipulation techniques and more exercises that my Chiro has taught me, to my TENS unit that I wear for pain, cripe I even do some Senior Citizen style Belly Dancing exercises that I learned off of you tube,this keeps my lower back moving which in a long run helps with pain, Of course I do it by the couch so if I lose my balance I only fall on the soft couch..lol.. But these people are always my Top Cheerleaders, they always encourage me, they are my Sisters and Brothers, and they always remind me that once a Nurse always a Nurse, I get so depressed by all this back stuff so it sure is good to hear..So I say YES, I am treated differently, but I think that is because they can identify with the past work that I have done and that I am still a part of the "Health Care Family" even tho I am retired. I love all my Cheerleaders, I couldn't do it without them.